While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

Hindu married women offer prayers and tie a thread around a banyan tree during the festival of Vat Purnima amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, June 24, 2021. (Photo by Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters)

Bikini-clad women sit as they operate a 3.6 metre-high custom-made female robot at the “Robot Restaurant” in Kabukicho, one of Tokyo's best known red light districts, August 15, 2012. (Photo by Tokyo Scum Brigade)

More than 400 people stripped off and ran into freezing waters to celebrate the autumn equinox – and raise money for charity at Druridge Bay, Britain, September 25, 2016. It was the largest turnout the North East Skinny Dip has ever seen in its five-year history, and it was also the first time it has ever rained on the morning of the event. Revellers gathered from 5.30am on Sunday at Druridge Bay, in Northumberland, before baring all in the North Sea. (Photo by David Charlton Photography)

Francis Sierra, 23, smokes as she competes for the longest ash during the XVIII Habanos Festival in Havana, March 3, 2016. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

In this October 7, 2014, photo, Fredrick Brower, center, helps cut up a bowhead whale caught by Inupiat subsistence hunters on a field near Barrow, Alaska. Drawing on tradition, and keeping within the closely monitored Aboriginal subsistence whaling guidelines, a bowhead whale is carved and divided by a crew armed with knives and hooks, and then shared according to custom. (Photo by Gregory Bull/AP Photo)

More than 1,200 vintage posters that would send any movie buff into orbit were discovered in an Ohio garage, including the only known copy of an almost 7-foot-tall creation for the 1947 reissue of “Dracula” that could sell for $40,000. The Dallas-based Heritage Auctions in Dallas puts them all on the block March 22 and 23, including some rare specimens from the silent movie era. (Photo by Courtesy Heritage Auctions)

In this image released on September 22, Filipino-American social media personality and singer Bella Poarch attends Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 presented by Amazon Prime Video at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles, California; and broadcast on September 24, 2021. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 3 Presented by Amazon Prime Video)